


The greatest gift I don't deserve

by TsunKing



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Birthday Fluff, HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYOMA HOSHI YOU BEAUTIFUL MAN, but there is like saihoshi or momohoshi if you squint, i tried keeping this as shipping neutral as possible, the angst here is incredibly light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 02:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15132821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsunKing/pseuds/TsunKing
Summary: Stubborn idiots. That’s what I would call them, but if they’re idiots…. ‘Then I must be the greatest fool of all’





	The greatest gift I don't deserve

**Author's Note:**

> I return! just in time for my bois birthday! and i totally did not skip sleep in the making of this fic (* ^ *)9

My day had started off like any other, to be perfectly frank. The mundane silence that prison had made me grown accustomed to, when given my time in solitude. Away from the voices of people around me. My eyes adjusted to the familiar light that flowed through my window, and with a yawn, I sat up and looked at vibrant rising sun off in the distance. A typical early summer morning if you will, though…. unlike the silence, this horizon feels so foreign to me. Something i should bask in and appreciate, barely a few months since my temporary release from imprisonment, yet…. I feel only contempt, a want to simply stop people from giving me things I don’t deserve.

With a half hearted sigh, I pushed my tiny body off of the sheets and gave them a neat fold as I walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting some light steam fill the white tiled room, small and claustrophobic to some, but perfect for someone like me. I let the water run down my brown hair and back, the running of water becoming the dullest of sounds as my mind drifts off to some corner of my head, hoping I wouldn’t return, but I always find myself back to reality each and every time.

After what felt like forever but in actuality just a few minutes, I turned off the water and patted myself dry, not before catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I went to get a change of clothes.

“Pathetic” I said with an empty voice as I dried the last of the water out of my hair, leaving it with a light dampness that would dry in the next hour or so.

[6:23 AM] Read the clock sat comfortably on my desk, amidst some work I’ve been assigned for the summer, with some extras lying around, and upon further inspection, I knew who it belonged to and picked it up with a sigh of humorous tones after putting on some clothes, and leaving to my friends dorm.

‘Friends’. The word and concept still felt awkward on my tongue. He… All of them insisted they call me such, and yet no matter how much I protested or called them idiots or fools, they just took it in stride. I kept mulling over this trivial and forgotten concept of companionship as I silently closed my door, walking down the corridor and slowly moved a few doors down. I’d been at this room a few times now, but it still feels like a new experience each time. I gave the door a few knocks before it was opened by someone different.

“H-Hoshi? What are you doing here?” Tsumugi said as she peeked through the door.

“I could ask you the same thing” I said as I cocked an eyelid at her to express my bewilderment.

“O-oh… well you know, I like to cosplay, and Saihara is the perfect model!” she says waving her hand as though she was trying to play off the unnecessary tension between us.

“Is that so-” I said until I was cut off from a voice around the corner of the dorms corridor.

“Shirogane!” a familiar voice called out “We got the banners and supplies you wanted-” and Shuichi (along with Kaede who seemed to have tagged along with him) stopped dead in their tracks with a face that read ‘oh crap’ written all over it. I was obviously even more skeptical now, given both Shirogane and now the detective and pianist’s behaviour, but I’ve never really been one to pry, but something about this was rubbing me the wrong way so I asked anyway.

“Are you guys up to something?” I asked bluntly, maybe a little bit more subtlety in my word choice could have gone a long way I thought to myself.

“What? What gave you that idea Hoshi?” Akamatsu said, trying to laugh things off as she pulled Saihara back into his dorm (earning a little yelp out of the boy in question), “It’s just…. Just uhhhh… a little going away celebration planning for Amami’s next trip!” she said with a shaky smile and from what I could now see Shirogane had looked as though she was mentally face palming.

“I thought Shirogane said she was using Saihara as a cosplay model…?” I retorted.

“Yeah that's right! We thought we would dress up a little as a surprise!” Shirogane said speaking up, earning a relieved sigh from Akamatsu until Saihara returned.

“Anyways, what are you doing here Hoshi?” he asked.

“Well, I swung by to drop this off” I took out the bundle of papers and assignments and passed it to him “You left this in my room last night” 

“I was wondering where I left this!” he said “Thanks for returning this Hoshi”

“No problem” I said before turning my back and walking down the hall. “I’ll leave you guys to do…. Whatever it is you’re planning” I said with air quotes as I made my way to the lounge as I heard them close the dorm door.

The lounge room to the dormitory of Hope's Peak Academy had been about what anyone would expect from a school this prestigious. Furniture that felt smooth and soft, rugs that felt nice against bare feet (or even wearing socks it still felt nice), various forms of entertainment, and that was only scratching the surface.

When I got there, I was expecting the usual sight for nearly 7 AM. Toujou cleaning and dusting the furniture, Momota trying to watch TV or just asleep on the couch, Yumeno with some coffee or tea as Chabashira would talk her ear off with Yonaga either drawing them or just doing some morning prayers. But today I found the lounge surprisingly empty. Though actually that was partially untrue.

The room had been devoid of the people mentioned, save for the Ultimate Maid, though instead of dusting and cleaning, instead she was….. Moving around some of the furniture? From what I could see, she was moving around some shelves and couches with some surprising deftness and ease given that she was lugging around near 200 pounds of furniture, and filling in the newly made space with some folding tables, from where she procured them from, I’m guessing the school warehouse.

She probably heard me coming in, as she immediately lifted her head up. “Ah, Hoshi” she said with her usual cordial formality. 

“You mind telling me why you’re lugging around the furniture?” I asked as I checked out the fridge to see what I could eat for breakfast, trying not so much to sound annoyed but rather legitimately curious, given that everyone had been acting like they were walking on glass and needles around me, but I suppose that never stopped my heavy and flat voice from making me come off as I intended.

Though luckily she seemed to understand my intentions, “I’m afraid I am not at liberty to disclose that information, also there is a prepared meal for you on the counter” she said, ‘well so much for trying to understand what’s going on’ I thought to myself as I saw an omelette laid out with some coffee, all assembled with the signature neatness and quality of the Ultimate Maid, yet… last I checked, I rarely if not never ask for stuff like this, and it seemed she read my mind again given her next response“Please do not be concerned, but I can’t explain as of yet, but please enjoy your meal” she said with a smile as she reached into her pocket and fiddled around with it, and I tilted my head in even more confusion before she answered my unspoken question for the upteenth time, “Just a call regarding a request someone asked of me, just a trivial concern” she finished with her chronically stoic smile and I merely shrugged it off deciding to just focus on my meal.

The omelette itself was about what I expected, given that Toujo made it, meaning it was impressive as all hell. Though then again, my standards have probably been abysmal given that I’ve just grown used to prison food. Right…. Accustomed. I mentally sigh to myself, berating myself for even trying to enjoy something like this. What the hell’s the point when I’m just gonna be back to where I was a few years later. As if on cue, the door to the lounge (was more or less kicked) open by none other than Momota himself, figuratively grabbing me by the back of my jacket and out of my mental swamp.

“Yo Hoshi!” he yelled out.

“You mind keeping it down, it’s seven in the morning” I said sipping the remainder of my coffee, more or less bringing much needed clarity in my morning haze.

“Aw c’mon, don’t be like that! Nothing wrong with starting the day off on an energetic foot!” he said with vigor from god knows where, and to be frank, there was a lot I could say ‘Yeah, no’ to what he said, but I only sipped the last drops of my mug with an “If you say so” and shrug of my shoulders.

“Anyways, I hope your excited!” he said clasping a hand roughly on my shoulders with a wide grin.

“For what exactly?”

“You get to hang out with the one and only Kaito Momota!” and a thumbs up was given my way. Suffice to say, I thought he was an idiot, but this was starting to cement that.

“I’ll pass” I said sitting up and making my way back to the quiet confinements of my room where I felt more at ease.

“C’mon man, you don’t gotta be like that” he said back to me, “Aren’t you always hanging around with people like Saihara? What makes me different then?” and I turned around and sighed.

“For one thing, Saihara and I just talk, second, your coming to me out of nowhere wanting to just spend time with me. I think you’ve got better things to do than waste your breath on me”

“Then, there's your answer! If all you and Saihara do is hang out and talk, then we could totally do the same thing!” and my eye started to twitch in irritation with how relentless his insistence was getting.

“Perhaps indulging in his request wouldn’t harm anyone” Toujo interjected, her focus still permeated on the moving of the furniture as she talked to us.

Tedious. That’s what this felt like, but I eventually gave in. albeit, with a handful of reluctance, “Fine, but don’t go complaining about the fact that your hanging out with a convict like me”. Ok maybe a little bit more than a handful.

\---

“Are you done?” I asked in a tone that I tried not to come off as too cold.

After a few hours of more or less listening to Momota talk my ear off on conversation far too naive and idealistic for my liking, I was ready to ditch him again until he somehow goaded me into a game of tennis and to be honest, I only gave in just to shut him up. It honestly feels surreal picking up a racket again. Yet several years worth of lacking experience sure didn’t stop me from completely winning by an embarrassing landslide.

“Of course not! If you think just a few losses is gonna stop me then you have another thing coming!”

He immediately served towards the opposite end of my side of the court and I instinctively jumped towards the ball and spiked it in the blink of an eye towards his end of the court and bounced out of his reach, only to slowly roll away once it hit the end of the tennis court.

“Really now?” I smirked.

“Those were just warm ups!” he clenched his fist to match the fervor in his declaration, “I’m not gonna lose to some loser who just sulks around all the time!” and he served a ball with far more force behind it.

“Why-” I said as I made a beeline for the ball and hit it back, “do you even care so much?”

“Cause it’s pathetic to just watch someone I used to look up to be nothing but a damn coward!” he struck the ball again and I nearly let myself be distracted until I remembered the game and hit the ball back just in time, scoring myself yet another meaningless point.

“I said it before, and I’ll say it again. You’re wasting your time” I said, my ire just about spilling at this point, but I caught him with a shit eating grin on his face. “What?”

“That was the first round you actually took seriously!” he said with a thumbs up “So that's complete proof that if I can make you take this seriously, I must be a match for you!”

It was a statement that held little weight or threat to me. Something that I normally would just call him stupid over, yet I found myself laughing more than anything. At how ridiculous the notion was, yet some part of me found it slightly infectious.

“Want to put that to the test then?”

\---

After an hour of another landslides worth of wins, we decided to call it a day. The sun was just starting to set, with a brilliant shock of orange painting the sky. An exhausted, but oddly satisfied smile was all I had on our way back to the dorms. Momota and I had just passed the walk back with idle chatter. But I guess that just made me more unprepared for what waited for me back at the dorm.

“SURPRISE!!!” 

A loud mixed burst of voices shouted the second I opened the door. Confusion, shock, perplexed, or practically any other expression that could personify ‘what the actual hell is this’ is what was plastered on my face.

The lounge had looked liked it was redesigned completely. Cobalt blue and shiny gold banners lined the walls (with what I’m assuming were cat prints on them), Balloons of blue and black had floated around the room, along with various foodstuffs which lined the tables, mostly made from Toujo If I had to guess

“What…. Is this about?”

“It’s your birthday!” Akamatsu said, clasping her hands together with a bright smile. “You can thank Saihara for everything, he was the one who remembered in the first place!”

“Don’t say it like that Akamatsu… Everyone pitched in a lot more than I did...” he said stammering off like usual.

‘Birthday…?’ I thought to myself. Oh, right. It only just hit me that today was July 1st, the day when Ryoma Hoshi, high school convict and murderer was born. I shook my head at all this, running every single possible reason why they would even do something like this.

“Why. Why go through all the trouble of doing all this for me” In truth, to say I wasn’t a little greatful would be a huge lie. Yet, this was all a waste wasn’t it? No, it could barely be a question. This was without a doubt a waste of time and effort for someone like me. So why…

“Hoshi…. I know you’re telling yourself things like ‘You don’t matter’ or ‘this is a waste of time’ but you do matter to us. I…. no, we, did all this, because we care about you, whether you think it or not.” said Saihara

It was at that moment the composure I kept myself up with slowly started to break down, and many of my peers noticed, causing Saihara, Akamatsu and Gokuhara to either hug or slowly pat my back until I started to feel less overwhelmed by all this.

“Sorry for making the idiot the one who was keeping you distracted the whole time. He probably just pestered and talked your ear off ” Harukawa said.

“Hey! I’ll have you know that I at least put up a fight in our matches of tennis!”

“So you got your ass beat by a three foot shortie in the hoity toity sport of slapping balls, real impressive ya fucking moron” retorted Iruma from across the room, “So are we gonna get this show on the road or not?!”

There was a loud cheer and laugh as things had gone underway. They were all idiots. Stubborn idiots. That’s what I would call them, but if they’re idiots…. ‘Then I must be the greatest fool of all’ I told myself. Reluctantly, but eventually giving in to the warmth that my friends gave me. And the faint tears still lingering from this gift they made.

“Everyone….. Thanks” I said with an earnest smile.

**Author's Note:**

> *cries tears of joy* I love this character so much


End file.
